Decision on unlawful dismissal of police officer upheld

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here has upheld the lower court’s decision finding the dismissal of a police officer three years ago for disciplinary misconduct unlawful.

Justice Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid made the decision after rejecting the appeal of the former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who was the then Bukit Aman police disciplinary board chairman, the board and the Government yesterday.

Justice Umi Kalthum said there was no appealable error made by the High Court judge and later affirmed the judge’s decision to reinstate Selamat Rasumin to his current position in the police force.

Other judges on the Bench were Justices Zaleha Yusof and Yaacob Md Sam.

Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan appeared for the appellants while lawyer G. Subramaniam Nair acted for Selamat, 53.

The Narcotics CID chief based at Pontian police headquarters in Johor received a letter from the disciplinary board on April 16, 2015, informing him about the board’s decision to dismiss him with effect from March 26 after he was found guilty of three charges of misconduct between 2008 and 2009.

The board, however, only gave him a warning for another three misconduct charges against him.

Then High Court judge Justice Hanipah Farikullah ruled that Selamat’s statement recorded under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code was unlawfully recorded and inadmissible in evidence in disciplinary proceedings.

Selamat filed a judicial review application on Oct 5 last year and named Khalid, the disciplinary board and the Government as the respondents.

Justice Hanipah, who is now a Court of Appeal judge, granted everything sought by Selamat in the application.